Chesham started quickly with an aggressive midfield press which led to a turnover in midfield and gave forward Karl Oliyide the chance to run straight at Louie Annesley. The Gibraltar international was equal to it, and Wanderers were able to establish some settled possession.

Charlie Carter may have been absent for almost two months, but he wasted no time getting involved on his return. The skipper was instrumental every time our boys progressed forward in the early stages: offering probing runs, incisive passes and encouraging some link-up play.

The muddy pitch made for an attritional opening twenty minutes as both teams struggled to put together a convincing series of passes.

The pitch perhaps played a part when a clumsy pass among the Wanderers backline presented the ball to Alex Babos, who picked his spot on the edge of the box and drove the ball into the bottom-left corner. 26′ 1-0

The Wanderers goal came under threat twice more before the break, and Harrison Foulkes pulled off two impressive stops to keep our deficit at just one. Oliyide forced our goalkeeper to get down quickly when he himself one-on-one just past the half-hour mark, before Babos tried his luck from range again, and had Foulkes at full-stretch to tip the effort onto the post.

Half Time: Chesham United 1-0 Dorking Wanderers

Wanderers immediately took control after the break and Chesham ‘keeper Ben Goode produced an incredible reflex save to keep a header from Carter out of the top corner.

The hosts were happy to sit back and absorb pressure while our boys were keen to play direct and continuously found Jimmy Muitt and Dennon Lewis in the wide areas, but we reached the hour mark without troubling Goode again.

A triple change saw Jose Marquez join Jason Prior up front, Dan Pybus return in midfield and George Francomb replace Annesley at the back, but we struggled to sustain pressure on the hosts as the Generals broke up play well.

The hosts would double their lead just on the 80-minute mark as Babos skipped his way past four Wanderers players on the halfway line and slipped it in for Jaiden Bartolo to tap it home. 80′ 2-0

Wanderers were then presented a late lifeline when Pybus launched a cross in from the left, which was parried straight into the path of Marquez. The raging bull reacted quickly to give us a fighting chance as we entered the final five minutes. 86′ 2-1

The late goal and the indication of six additional minutes saw the Wanderers fans find some hope, but the Generals’ game management saw injury time fly by.

Full Time: Chesham United 2-1 Dorking Wanderers

Match Report by Charlie Partridge